The negotiations between the L.A. Dodgers and Kazuhisa Ishii have been rocky,
to say the least, but Ishii was apparently desperate enough to play in the
major leagues to the point where he may never make as much as even Cory Lidle
until the sixth year of the pact he signed last Friday. Lidle signed a new
contract this offseason with Oakland that will pay him an average of $3.8
million for each of the next two seasons (incidentally, Lidle will also make
more than Ichiro this season as well as Freddie Garcia, both of whom will
take home $3.6 million for 2002 before incentives, so maybe we should make
Cory's agent player rep of the year for getting so much for someone with
just one decent season under his belt). Ishii will finally surpass Lidle
in 2007 at $4.2 million, and that's only if the blue crew picks up an option.

By the way, let's also total up one stat that counts to compare Ishii and
Lidle: Ishii five championship rings (out of six tries with Yakult), Lidle,
well, ZERO. Pencil it in, folks: aside from Ichiro, the 15 wins and 3.50
ERA the Chiba prefecture native will post this season will make him baseball's
best buy at $500,000. That's what the Cardinals will pay So Taguchi, who
will be mostly a platoon player for Tony LaRussa. And southpaw power arms
are in a lot less supply than speedy defensive specialists with mediocre
sticks.

There is a side benefit, however, to Ishii coming over now. The yen is very
weak and some economists predict that it could fall as low as 150=one dollar
U.S. just by the end of the current year. When Ichiro signed, the yen was
at 110=one dollar U.S. As I write this, the yen is at

133=one dollar U.S. On the other hand, if he had taken the risk of staying
in Japan and had a dominant season, he would have gotten much more as a free
agent than what Evans offered.

But then again, Ishii experienced some shoulder discomfort last season and
if the shoulder goes he will be guarenteed a four-year paycheck whereas Yakult
would probably have released him if he couldn't come back the following season.

One note, though: according to an article on CBS Sportsline, immigration
procedures may delay Ishii's spring training arrival. The INS, one of the
worst managed of all U.S. government agencies, is not noted for its speed,
so Ishii is likely to "camp in," as they say in Japan, at Vero Beach long
after this Friday's report deadline.

Nevertheless, that isn't stopping the Japanese press from speculating that
Ishii may end up as the Dodgers opening day starter since Kevin Brown, who
is recovering from elbow surgery, may not be ready by that time. Ishii has
started each of the last four years for Yakult on opening day, losing the
first time but taking the last three in a row. He was the first in Yakult
history (even more than Hall of Fame inductee Masaichi Kaneda, who won 400
games lifetime) to take three consecutive openers. Overall, on opening day,
in four games, Ishii went 3-1, threw 28 innings, gave up 22 hits and struck
out 32 and posted a 3.21 ERA (that includes his first opener, when he got
hammered for five runs in five innings in 1998 against Yomiuri).

Hideo Nomo is the only Japanese pitcher to win an opening day game in the
majors, doing that for Detroit when he went eight innings, allowing three
earned runs on three hits, on April 3, 2000 against Oakland.

But he is almost certainly going to take the mound in that first series of
the season and may end up facing Tsuyoshi Shinjo, the ex-Hanshin Tigers star
who went to the Bay Area in a trade during the off season. Shinjo is just
13-84 lifetime against Ishii for a .155 average, though four of those hits
were homers, one a grand slam in 1997, to drive in nine runs, but has whiffed
against Ishii 28 times.

A Note on Taguchi

So Taguchi gives the Cardinals a little more versatility than one may see
at first glance. He has played some shortstop at Orix as well as some second
base. So if LaRussa needs to make a late or extra inning double switch, Taguchi
could be moving around quite a bit in those situations.

Prospect Watch

Waseda University righthander Tsuyoshi Wada, who may be taken one or two
by the Yakult Swallows in the November draft, is garnering a lot of attention
right now, The 5'11" 158 pound, Hamada High School, Shimane Prefecture product
is the son of a former college batting champ and helped get his alma mater
to two summer Koshien appearances, but were eliminated due to late inning
losses.

The thing about this guy is that there isn't anything that really jumps out
at you in terms of velocity or height/weight, although his control is supposedly
quite good. But then you look at his strikeout totals and he has just been
a machine. So he might be worth keeping an eye on.

One guy I occasionally talk to in the baseball media posited that he may
be the Japanese equivalent of Orioles prospect John Stephens. Anyway, here
is some basic information:

Fastball maxes out at 92mph and he apparently has a "first rate" slider and
forkball. He can throw his breaking balls for strikes as well as work the
corners. Has to keep the ball down more consistently.

Says he admires Giants hurler Kimiyasu Kudoh for his efficient mechanics
and the way he uses his weight.

Apparently tore a couple of muscles in the underneath part of his throwing
arm as a high school senior, but he didn't have surgery on it since they
were muscles not used much in throwing. To compensate, worked on strengthening
his legs and back as well as exercises for the arm. Was out of commission
for two months. Has added about 5mph since the injury. He has international
experience, playing against Asian and American college teams.

His strikeout total is seventh all time in the Tokyo Big Six University League,
his 88 single season whiffs are second all time for the league. Pitching
form pics at: http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~fwjf6976/aimo-wada.htm

Speaking of Kudoh....

Kimiyasu Kudoh, one of the premier lefties in Japanese baseball and who moved
to the Yomiuri Giants in 2000 after refusing a three year offer from the
Colorado Rockies and promptly came in to handcuff the NY Mets in an exhibition
appearance, was out almost all of 2001 with a bad knee. It is apparently
feeling better though, as in a workout Monday he threw more than 250 pitches
with no pain.

And for those who ask, yes, it is common for Japanese pitchers to throw that
much in pre-season workouts. In fact, just as much a part of a Japanese spring
training as the players saying what numbers they intend to put up during
the regular season and the Japanese sports press reporting how many homers
a hitter slugged in batting practice. Ex-Padre George Arias, now a Hanshin
Tiger, wowed the ink stained wretches the other day with a purported 500+
foot blast.

In any event, the Giants absolutely have to have a stellar campaign from
Kudoh as well as lefthander Hisanori Takahashi, who has yet to win more than
nine games in a season during his two years in the Yomiuri rotation, in order
to hope to contend. The club lost Darryl May and replaced him with John,
"way back (as in, "the ball is hammered, back, a waaaaaaaay back, gone!)"
Wasdin, the ex-Phillie. Tokyo Dome is very similar to the Metrodome in Minnesota
and the ball carries fairly well there. So new manager Tatsunori Hara is
hoping that Wasdin's nickname doesn't turn out to be a harbinger of his fortunes
at the Big Egg, as the park is known.

Quote of the Pre-Season So Far

Yokohama Bay Stars ace Daisuke Miura, on his now ex-batterymate Motonobu
Tanishige, who took the money and ran to the Chunichi Dragons (who overpaid
for him): "if he hits me I'll go pick up trash in the park." Here's to hoping
the crafty righty doesn't end up being this year's Rob Dibble.

Yokohama, We Have a Problem

Former Mariners prospect Jason Turman, who at 6'9" plus is receiving a lot
of attention for being vertically gifted (did I just come up with a new
politically correct phrase?) from the otherwise height challenged Japanese
baseball public, could not lay down a sac bunt in practice Monday to save
his life, bringing a big scowl from Bay Stars field boss Masaaki Mori, a
proponent of "kanri yakyuu" (control baseball, otherwise known as small ball).
Turman, when asked by the Japanese beat reporters about his inability to
bunt, noted that "it's been eight years since I've had to hit."

From the "Are You Kiddin' Me?" Department

In an attempt to stuff even more offense into their lineup (which is what
happens when you have no pitching), the 2001 Pacific League champion Kintetsu
Buffaloes are going to experiment with using Norihiro Nakamura, hardly that
mobile at his normal third base position, at shortstop. Imagine, if you will,
putting Harmon Killebrew at that position and you will get a fair picture
of how effective the burly Nakamura, who hit .320 with 46 homers last season
and became part of the most powerful one-two punch in Japanese baseball history
with Tuffy Rhodes, will be. Not to mention that this increases the chance
he will get injured. I have alot of respect for manager Masataka Nishida
in being able to take a club with few viable arms and spotty defense to the
Japan Series, but this move seriously needs to be reconsidered.

The Hats are White, But They Might as Well be Black

While the Hanshin Tigers have signed George Arias away from the Orix Blue
Wave and took infielder Atsushi Kataoka from Nippon Ham to provide a big
improvement in offensive potential over 2001's woeful showing, they also
picked up former Chunichi Dragons manager Senichi Hoshino and a notorious
coach named Ikuo Shimano to run the team.

A couple of seasons back, Hoshino got into it with umpire Atsushi Kittaka
at the Dragons home park, Nagoya Dome, against the Yokohama Bay Stars, over
a third strike call. The end result was that in a confrontation with Hoshino
and two of his players, Katsuyoshi Tatsunami and Takayuki Onishi, Kittaka
left the game with broken ribs and spike marks all over his uniform. The
case was ultimately referred to the Nagoya Prosecutor's Office, though they
declined to get involved in what they saw as a baseball matter (huh?). Hoshino
and Onishi, who is suspected of doing most of the kicking, should have been
suspended for life. As it was, the Central League handed out some rather
lightweight suspensions (Onishi got seven games) and Hoshino and the players
expressed their personal apologies to Kittaka. You can read a Detroit News
story about the incident at:
http://detnews.com/2000/sports/0005/22/sports-60895.htm

Let's also add to it the fact that Hoshino, who appeared in 500 games in
his 14 year career for the Dragons, winning 146, is also known for hitting
his players.

Shimano was indeed actually banned for life for what the Mainichi Shimbun
referred to as a "brutal" incident he had with an umpire. Shimano, a former
outfielder with Chunichi, the Nankai (now Daiei) Hawks, and Hanshin, was
about as punchless as you could get as a player. He once SLUGGED a 98-pound
weakling-like .301 in the course of a 559 AB season with Nankai. His lifetime
OPS was just .598. How he lasted 18 seasons is a complete mystery. But in
his disagreement with umpire Sen Washitani (I hope I got transliterated his
name correctly; please write in if I didn't) Shimano, then a coach for Hanshin,
in a game against the Yokohama Taiyo

Whales (now the Yokohama Bay Stars), disagreed with a foul call that Washitani,
the third base umpire, made on a pop up between third and home that the Whales
third baseman, Mitsugu Ishibashi, missed and along with another Tigers coach,
punched and kicked Washitani. The umpires all left fthe ield in protest and
the game was delayed until Hanshin manager Ando apologized and his two coaches
banished from the field.

After dillydallying on this matter, the public outcry over the incident lead
the Central League office to hand down a lifetime ban of both Shimano and
the other coach. Japanese baseball Commissioner Takezo Shimoda, a former
justice of the Japanese Supreme Court, was not pleased at how slowly the
CL acted on this matter nor the lighthearted way the Tigers front office
regarded the matter. Eventually, the case was turned over to the Yokohama
Prosecutor's Office, but they never brought formal charges. But the fact
that thugs such as Hoshino and Shimano are allowed to be associated in anyway
with Japanese baseball is a black mark against it.

Kokubo Coming to MLB in 2004?

The Japan Times made a little news in the last week when it said that Daiei
Hawks slugging third baseman Hiroki Kokubo may be leaving Japan for the majors
when he becomes a free agent at the end of the 2003 schedule. He would be
32.

While there has been no mention of this in the Japanese language press, whoever
gets the rough and ready 6' 190 pound righthanded hitting four time all star
who blasted 44 homers and drove in 123 while posting a .290 average in 2001
will like what they have.He works hard, is tough as nails and I project him
as a .260 to .270, 25 homer guy in MLB while giving you a solid glove. Moreover,
he can play second in a pinch, since he has experience there, too.

Hailing from rural Wakayama Prefecture, Kokubo played on the Japanese olympic
baseball team at Barcelona, ripping a couple of RBI doubles against the U.S.
squad to help give Japan the bronze there. He was the only non-professional
on that squad at the time, as he was still in college.. In 1993, he was drafted
number two by Daiei, where he hit just .215 with six homers in 78 games in
his 1994 rookie season. But he then followed that up in 1995 by playing in
every game and going yard 28 times while batting .286 and earning a Gold
Glove. He also became the first player in 34 years to take a homer crown
with fewer than 30 dingers. Two years later, he established then personal
highs in homers with 36 and plated 114 to snatch an RBI crown. His 37 two
baggers also was tops in the PL. He sat out almost all of 1998 with a shoulder
injury. The layoff must have hurt him since his .234 average in 1999 was
very disappointing, though he still managed to whack 24 out of the park for
a club that went all the way to a Japan Series championship, its first in
decades.

The following season, Daiei won its second PL pennant thanks to Kokubo being
absolutely white hot at a time that fellow slugger Nobuhiko Matsunaka, who
won the PL MVP that season, was out of commission with an injury. Kokubo
ended up going downtown 31 times and sending 105 of his teammates across
home plate and hit .288. Unfortunately, he also got injured toward the end
of the season and sat out almost all of the Japan Series against Yomiuri,
which the Giants won, four games to two.

Lifetime, Kokubo has crushed 195 homers and 608 RBIs in 3191 official at
bats and put up a .271 average. His K/BB ratio is 1.9K/BB, though his strikeout
ratio is a respectable 19% per official time at bat. Anyway you look at it,
this is a solid big league talent.

This Almonte is Impressing Nobody

Hector Almonte, older brother of Yankees shortstop prospect Erick Almonte,
may be talking his way out of a job with the Yomiuri Giants. Almonte came
to Tokyo in the latter half of last season from the Marlins organization
in the hopes that he would strengthen the club's third rate bullpen. But
after seeing Almonte get lit up, the Giants shipped him and his better than
7.00 ERA to the farm.

Fast forward to last week and Almonte whining about the pitchers being forced
to do too much running and then grabbing his gear and heading back to the
hotel. The Giants had seen similar temper tantrums from the mercurial Balvino
Galvez (one reason why Galvez, who played in Korea last season, is now a
civilian) and considering that Almonte isn't showing anything except how
fat his heater is looking to CL hitters, he may soon be given a ticket back
to the states.

Kuroki Still Bothered By Shoulder Problem

Tomohiro, "Johnny" Kuroki of the Chiba Lotte Marines had a nightmare of a
season in 2000, posting an ERA of 5.18, his worst ever as a pro by far.
Furthermore, he was a member of the 2000 Japanese olympic baseball team that
failed to medal.

But after the regular season ended, he was named to a Japanese all-star squad
that would face a similarly composed major league contingent and he was nothing
short of awesome. In his first start against them, he tossed five innings
of three hit, eight strikeout, one run ball and then next time out did well
again by limiting the big leaguers to three hits and a run in four innings,
signaling that perhaps he was finally back from the injuries that had dogged
him during that regular season.

And starting out of the blocks in 2001, he was looking unhittable. He throws
a fastball in the low 90's and to complement it he has a slider, a slow curve
ball and a forkball. He won his first three starts, got a no decision, and
then ripped off six more consecutive wins. He pitched well against Nippon
Ham, giving up only a pair of runs on four hits in eight innings, but lost
anyway. Then he got hammered the next two outings before getting back into
the win column and emerging victorious in the start after that. In his last
two games of the season, he was touched for just four runs in 15 innings,
but got a no decision in one and a loss in the other. Kuroki was named to
the all star team and was the winning pitcher in one of the games. But in
August, he started to complain of shoulder pain. So off the roster he went,
as he finished the season prematurely with a sparkling 11-4 record and a
3.02 ERA in 17 games in an offensively oriented league. The opposition hit
only .227 against him.

Now it looks as if he still has some nagging discomfort in the shoulder,
which he says is still only at about 30% normal strength and if so a club
that is very shallow in talent such as the Marines is going to hurt badly
if he can't pitch or starts the season late. It's a pleasure to watch him
work when he's healthy and one hopes that the shoulder will rebound in short
order.

Former Dragons, Orions Infielder Aiko Missing

Takeshi Aiko, a former first baseman with the Lotte Orions (now the Chiba
Lotte Marines) and the Chunichi Dragons, has been missing since early November,
according to Nikkan Sports. The last time Aiko, who, upon retirement at the
conclusion of the 2000 season, tried to get a career going as a tv personality
but so far hasn't been able to make it happen, was last seen striking out
as a pinch hitter for the Tokyo Dreams, a club in Japan's Masters League
(made up of retired pro baseball players) in a game in Nagoya and hasn't
been heard from since.

Aiko's wife was the one who filed the missing persons report in late November
after not being contacted at all by her husband.

As a teenager, Aiko pitched Yokohama High School to a summer Koshien tournament
title. In 1980, he was selected in the first round of the draft by Lotte
as a pitcher. However, he wasn't very successful on the mound and in 1984
he was converted into a position player, spending time both at first, his
main spot, and in rightfield. It wasn't until two years later, though, that
he began to get significant playing time, managing a .265 with seven homers
and 26 RBIs in 268 at bats in 1986. 1987 saw him put up a .260 mark with
eight homers and 31 runs driven in over the course of 292 at bats.

In 1988, he was finally made a regular player and responded with a .286-17-63
and then improved to a .303-13-65 in 1989 and got himself a Gold Glove. As
the 90's dawned, he posted career highs in homers (21) and RBIs (72), but
his strikeouts went up to 112 and his average plummeted to .243. He only
had two more years as a regular and never hit in double figures in homers
again. He was released by Lotte after the end of the 1995 season and signed
with Chunichi, where he was also a bench player.

Lifetime, he batted .269 in 1532 games with 108 homers and 513 RBIs and a
.743 OPS.

Last year, one of the weekly tabloids had reported that injections of
steroid-based painkillers that a doctor had given Aiko had left Aiko in pain
and with a weight problem. Indeed, looking at a recent photo of Aiko, he
is indeed overweight, but no more so than you would expect any other middle-aged
man to be. The doctor and Aiko filed suit against the tabloid's publisher,
the Kodansha publishing house, claiming defamation and are asking for ten
million yen (about $75,000) in damages.

Aiko was reportedly well liked by his Tokyo Dreams teammates and they hope
that he hasn't been "dragged into any trouble."

Japanese Baseball Bible Founder Dies at 90

According to Sankei Sports, Tsuneo Ikeda, who started what became Japan's
baseball bible in SHUUKAN BASEBALL (Baseball Week) and lived by the motto
of "spreading the spirit of fair play," died Saturday at the age of 90 in
a Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo hospital of pneumonia.

Ikeda, a native of rural Niigata Prefecture, graduated from Tokyo's prestigious
Waseda University as a literature major in 1935, one year before the first
Japanese professional baseball league started. In 1937, he was named editor
in chief of YAKYUUKAI (Baseball World) and was said to have poured his heart
and soul into that publication.

Following the end of WWII, he established the Baseball Magazine Company,
the parent of Shuukan Baseball. That company went on to also issue magazines
devoted to Sumo, track and field, boxing, tennis, soccer, pro wrestling and
many other sports and employs 213 workers.

Through his sports connections, he was able to travel to countries such as
Hungary, Poland, and Rumania, being bestowed with medals in each. According
to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Ikeda visited the old Soviet Union in 1986 and played
a role in introducing baseball there. In 1989, he was inducted into the Japanese
Baseball Hall of Fame. He also sat on the selection committee for that
institution. In 1998, a museum was built in Yamato-machi, Niigata Prefecture
to house Ikeda's collection of writings, sports memorabilia, paintings and
the like, the Ikeda Kinen Bijutsukan. That facility houses more than 3500
items Ikeda amassed during his life.